Pollock mansion returns to glory

By DENISE DICK

denise_dick@vindy.com

youngstowN

Like a detective

investigating a crime scene, architect Ronald Cornell Faniro scours the Porter and Mary Pollock House for clues.

“The history tells it all really,” Faniro said. “The history of the building tells its own story.”

Faniro Architects Inc. of Youngstown was selected by the Youngstown State University trustees to restore the historic Wick Avenue building and return it to its original purpose: a residence.

When the $4.4 million project is finished next July, it will be the home of YSU President Cynthia Anderson and future university presidents.

The portion of the building added in 1987, when the building became a hotel, will be demolished. The home is being restored, as much as possible, to its early state.

The firm researched old newspaper articles and spoke to surviving family members to ascertain the original state of the building.

In the formal dining room, for example, bench seating sat on either side of a marble fireplace. When workers removed the benches, though, they found evidence that cabinets formerly stood there. They found the original cabinets in the carriage house and plan to return them to the dining room.

“It’s detective work,” Faniro said. “It’s like finding a fingerprint.”

The staircase, moved from one side of the foyer to the other to when the house became a hotel, will be returned to its original spot.

Workers will perform a process called optical microscopy to determine the original paint color so that can be replicated.

Other items — crystal chandeliers, lighting fixtures, most of the windows, the hardwood floors and slate roof — remain but will be repaired, restored or replaced as needed.

A garage will be added and plans call for restoration of the carriage house in the rear of the property as well as the two gardens.

Faniro described the home’s style and its decor as eclectic — a mix of Queen Anne, arts and crafts and art nouveau.

The house was built in 1893 by Charles H. Owsley. It was owned by business man Paul Wick who gave it to his daughter, Mary and Mary’s husband, Porter Pollock, who lived in the house until their deaths.

Family members donated it to the university in 1950.

Over the years, it served as classroom and office space, and, in the 1980s, a private developer built a 64-room addition on the mansion and opened it as a full-service hotel under the name Wick-Pollock Inn. It closed in 1998 and has been vacant, but over the last couple of years, the trustees have been looking at various plans to restore it.

Scott Schulick, board president, said the board decided it wanted to preserve and restore the building, and that work was included in YSU’s capital improvement plan in 2008.

Trustees considered a number of options for the building and had decided on a conference center. Those plans changed, however, with the board opting to alter the policy of providing a housing allowance for the president.

They chose to return to the original policy of providing on-campus housing.

“The restoration was going to cost $4 million whether it was a conference center or the president’s home,” Schulick said.

The university, which he estimates has paid about

$2 million over several years in president’s housing allowance, will save that money.

The money for the project is coming from $47 million borrowed by the university for various campus construction and improvement projects.

The house’s first floor will be used for social gatherings. The second floor will be the president’s residence and the third floor will be guest quarters.

“It will be very similar to the White House concept,” Faniro said.

Richard M. White, YSU’s associate director of planning and construction, said that while many historic elements will be restored, more modern amenities will be added for function. Those include plumbing and heating, ventilation and air conditioning.

The architect praised YSU for maintaining the building over the years.

“The No. 1 thing that damages a building is lack of use and lack of care,” Faniro said. “That’s not the case here. The university took care of it.”